The dense tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.
This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for polluting water resources in an area home to 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.
Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes
And yet, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – everything needed to produce Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between local communities and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to produce forever chemicals again.
A Toxic Legacy
Previously recognized for its specialism in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated levels of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been subjected through drinking water.
The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of PFAS documented in human blood. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with Pfas, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.
Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.
Community Concerns
Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after learning her children’s blood showed high levels of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being transferred to India, she was shocked.
“As mothers, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children are the children of all.”
Business Shift
Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Records of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.
Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. According to a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the company went bankrupt.
Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the plant in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to start producing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.
Growth Plans
By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy explicitly spelled out the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Logistics data show that, to get approval on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.
From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be used in pesticides, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and other products.
Regulatory Context
Studies have shown that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around production sites. But even though international attention is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.
“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”
Local Impact
Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.
The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints.
“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the plant cannot function and industries release polluted water directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the site in recent years.
Global Implications
In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the manufacture, import and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This attention may be driving the industry to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I think that this issue should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”
Ongoing Risks
Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are facing an unsafe environment for generations.
“The area has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s perpetually concerning.”
